Coaches - Post-Xmas Pre-Season Training Requirements

Team training will start back up in the next 2 to 3 weeks so there's no better time to pop this video up.

Tagging off the pre-xmas video from few months back, it builds on your pre-xmas training through progressions to game speed and simulated training as we eye towards practice games in March.

If you want a fool proof program to follow then give the Untouchable Post-Xmas Pre-Season Training Program for Coaches that lays out all of the energy systems training your players will need at team training up until practice games.

This gives you, the coach plenty of extra time to dedicate to actually coaching in relation to game plans and tactics - what you're actually paid for!

There's even an extra session each week that can be handed to players to do away from the club as well.

If you have any questions let me know over at the Facebook page.

           

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Women's Football Wednesday (on Thursday again!) - AFLW Combine Standards

I did a bit of Googling for AFLW newspaper articles looking for some AFLW Combine results from the open testing from earlier this year.

These are pretty much the standards you must reach to get your foot on the door with recruiters.

- With a list of just 27, you need to durable and well-rounded, but with a "strength" specific to you (speed, endurance, skills etc)

- Durability will be huge with a short list (and already 3 ACL's!), less players on the field, harder grounds and very high temperatures, although game time is limited to 4 x 15min quarters plus time on.

 - Less players on the field means more open space which means speed will be huge and repeat speed even huger (that's a word and you know it!). Open space + speed means you'll have greater time for decision making which should translate to better skills. They found this to be the case after analysing the Bulldogs/Demons game from earlier this year.

- The clubs haven't gone all in with everyone as a lot of players are dual sport athletes at this point, with Adelaide's Anne Hatchard combining AFLW and WNBL (basketball) at the same time, limiting her footy training to 2/week which is a great move to not make players choose sports just yet

- For the 20m sprint test the best results I could fond were Daria Bannister/Hayley Breward 3.29, Calista Boyd 3.21, Georgia Baldwin 3.13, Aimee Ralph 3.23

EDIT - 2017 TAC COMBINE BEST SCORE 3.20secs.

 - For the beep test the best results I could find were Hayley Breward 11.3, Amy Halaby 11.8, Heather Anderson 14.9, Ange Foley 13.9, Courtney Stanley 12.6, Stephanie Cain 10.7

EDIT - 2017 TAC COMBINE BEST SCORE 13:01

- For the agility test the best results I could find were Daria Bannister 8.51, Bronte 8.39,  Aimee Ralph 8.94

EDIT - 2017 TAC COMBINE BEST SCORE 8.9secs (but only best I heard)

- For the vertical jump test the best results I could find were Casey Peet and Nadia Harvey 58cms running single leg jump

Now if you don't naturally possess these talents then you need to train them up and as it happens I have 20 in-person (Melbourne) and 20 online spots open to female footballers who want to make their AFL dream happen. I'm looking to kick this off in the next week or 2 so email at aussierulestraining@gmail.com or through the Facebook page if you're one of those!

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Women's Football Wednesday (on Thursday) - Force Application + Train What the Others Aren't

The amount of force you can exert and how you exert it is pretty much what dictates your level as an athlete.

In almost every sport you can think of, speed is the number 1 factor on whether you make it or not.

Football is no different.

As I discussed briefly in my opening WFW post a week or so back, females are naturally geared towards endurance from having far more slow twitch muscle fibers then man, be able to tap into using far as fuel far more easily (a trait of superior endurance) and not having the muscle mass (engine) to develop as much force.

But what if you could develop more force?

You're naturally geared for endurance and so are the rest of women footballers so maybe the best way to make an impact in an ever growing crowd is through increasing speed.

Last week on my homepage I posted a video of a female client of mine Pam, who after just 3 months of training has already worked her way up to 100kg deadlift training on average 2 times per week.

                             

If I had combined her strength work with sprint work I could guarantee her sprint timed would be improved across the board - they couldn't be once you lifted way over your bodyweight.

You now have a bigger engine to move your current mass with which is what speed is all about in a very simplistic way.

Once you start footy training, if you haven't already, then you'll probably focus on skills and endurance but not a lot of speed work, as is my experience from my 3 million games of football.

The aim of the my Women's Training Program is to train the stuff you don't get to at footy training, making you a complete player.

Increasing strength, thus force application and thus speed is a huge part of this program.

If you can make South Yarra twice a week for in-person training then fill out this form: http://bit.ly/2i5r7XV

If you're an out of towner then the online version might be more your style of which you can fill out this form: http://bit.ly/2gWi76k

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Women's Football Wednesday (on Monday) - How the AFLW Players are Conditioning Right Now

I'm heading away for Xmas, back for a few days then off again for new years so I'll double up a bit this week to keep you informed over the break while you're sitting around in a post Xmas dinner haze.

For Women's Football Wednesday (on Monday - I hope to do anothery on Wednesday too this week), I wanna take a look at an article on the Brisbane Lions women's team.

It talks mostly about their tough draw but I found interesting some of the comments from their coach Craig Starcevich who states that his players had already exceeded expectations ahead of the season to date.

He is pleasantly surprised at how fast the girls have improved physically and how that has transferred into improvement technically.

He says "some of the things we thought we might have an issue with skill-wise haven't been an issue and the girls are fitter, stronger and more skillful already."

It goes on to say that the Lions have been doing 3 weight sessions, 2 conditioning sessions and 3 skill sessions per week.

Each player will follow individual programs over the Xmas break as well.

I had 4 or 5 years off playing footy but continued to train like I was playing in that time. When I did come back I was technically as good as I was when I finished as my muscles were already conditioned for high speed movements and the type of "performance' based training I did also meant I was able to maintain muscle co-ordination as well.

If I had only 12 weeks to get ready for footy season, like the AFL girls have, then I would definitely be hitting the gym more often then anything else initially, just as the Lions are.

You can't go head first in conditioning if you're body can't do what you want it to do and there's a saying in the training game - "get fit to run, don't run to get fit."

You could go conditioning first but after initial improvements you'll struggle to make more if you're engine doesn't increase it's size.

After Xmas I would assume there will be a lot more game simulation type conditioning work and less strength training as there using a short build up.

For mine, female footballers are in interesting space right now.

For the next couple of years while the talent field is relatively low, if you're  a local/amateur football player then with a precise training regime, you could make HUGE strides in your game and potentially be on an AFL list this time next year. That is not a stretch - I wish I was a female footballer right now myself!

I wouldn't mind getting my hands on few female footballers to train in-person (along side your team training) so if you're in Melbourne and can get to South Yarra 2 times a week for an hour or so, then let me know - I'll be more then interested to help you out.

The full article can be found here.

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AFL Victoria Pre-Season Guidelines

These guidelines came out 2 weeks ago but I just came across them today.

There were probably a few articles on this but this is the one that came across my feed:

http://www.thecourier.com.au/story/4360318/ease-up-pre-holidays-to-push-to-the-limit/

AFL Victoria's premise is to do light training sessions, have fun and use cross training methods which I'd agree with foe the most part.

The light sessions bit is the interesting part to me.

A "light' session isn't really a good way to describe any footy training session. What is light? Low volume/high intensity? High volume/low intensity? Something in between?

Unfortunately nobody at local/amateur football clubs really knows what this is and the guidelines does little to clear this up.

My main thoughts after reading this are as follows:

- The more training you can complete, the better prepared you will be for the competition period where you can't train as much and thus your level of trainability can decrease at local/amateur (L/A) level, leaving you vulnerable during games.

- I am a huge fan of the fact the author made the point that AFL teams have full-time staff on hand to facilitate recovery which in turn allows a greater training load to be completed - something L/A footballers don't have so if you jump on your AFL teams Youtube channel and find them doing repeat 400's then do not think that's a great idea for you team.

- Doing too little is far better then doing too much, but if you can nail the bit in between you'll be golden. How do you determine "the middle"? Assess your players in a variety (but not a lot of) strength and fitness qualities (speed, aerobic capacity etc) and once they have improved relatively significantly in one category, then maybe it;s time to ease of that specific quality and look to another area for improvement. If you've knocked 30secs off your 3km time trial then you've probably "done enough' and aiming for that extra 10secs could be extra stress that breaks the camel's back.

- As stated, I don't see it as a "clear set of guidelines" - they are extremely general which doesn't really help anyone as teams will take the generalness of the guideline s and simply run with them how they want, essentially what happens already.

- AFL has specific coaches for everything and we don't but hey, this is why my blog exists so I can fill that need so let me know if you need some assistance.

- I cannot agree with the statement by AFL Victoria that "there is little benefit in a significant pre-Christmas block." Yes it needs to be done correctly but if it is, then a solid pre-Christmas block can be one of the best thing you can do as a football team. You don't have any other conflicts of energy requirements (games can kill training intensity during the season) and you already know that you have a break coming up so you can push slightly further knowing that you will have ample recovery for 2 weeks or so. My belief would be that if you did complete a solid pre-Christmas, then it shows that you are committed to the coming season and I can see you doing some training over the Christmas break so as not to render the last 4 - 6 weeks useless. BUT, go back to my original statement at the start of this point - if it's done correctly.

- Football clubs and their coaches do have a responsibility to their players who after training, need to go home and be fathers and mother's, who need to get up ans go to work 5 - 6 days a week as well which you can't do with a torn hamstring or extreme soreness that renders you next to useless. More is not better. Coaches probably need to find ways to train divide their players into groups and train them at their specific levels. The poor bloke who rocks up for his first training session at the start of Feb should not be doing what the main group does in regards to fitness work - not even close to.

The guidelines can be found here.

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The Inaugural Women's Football Wednesday

                                         


What A Girl Wants, What A Girl Needs...


Women’s footy is almost here and I really think it will be extremely entertaining and I’ll take my 6yr old son to a bunch of games for sure.


Even with the game will be ever slightly, hybrid with 16 players per team on the park at once compared to 18 a team in the men’s comp, this allows for the game to be more open, less congested and possibly a better “watching” product with high skill level being able to be displayed with more area to work in without pressure.

It's a great time to be an aspiring Women's AFL footballer. With the league in it's infancy, and a wanting to expand as quick as possible, there will never be more playing list availabilities as there is right now and with the right training methods and development, you could be on an AFL list this time next year!


Needs Analysis for the Female Footballer


Women athletes have a specific set of requirements that need to be addressed.


At the very top of the list is the need to PERFECT deceleration mechanics, and I mean PERFECT them so you don’t even need to think about them.


Deceleration mechanics refers to slowing down and stopping or changing direction.


It’s no secret that female athletes can be up to 5 x more likely to tear an anterior cruciate ligament in the knee then a male for a variety of reasons including:

• Having a narrower space in the knee for the ACL to pass through

• The actual ACL is smaller and thus weaker in women

• Females have a wider hips resulting in an acute Q angle which is the angle from you’re the most lateral part of your hips to the your lateral knee which presents as knock knees which exasperates internal rotation (falls inwards) upon landing or changing direction putting all sorts of pressure on the knee joint itself

• Women tend to have more flexibility to their connective tissue and their muscle tissue is also more elastic than males which can lead to excessive movement and thus a slower contraction time leaving you vulnerable during high velocity movements

• General weaker muscles of the body are the glutes, hamstrings and upper back and obviously this gets worse with females as they are naturally relatively weaker than men as far as physical strength is concerned. During AFL footy, acceleration and deceleration is a primary function of the glutes, hamstrings and quads. Non-surprisingly women are quad dominant in most cases too so again, females are vulnerable if the correct strength training hasn’t been performed.

• In a single menstrual cycle there are times when you’re connective is strong and times when it is extremely weak so training loads need to correlate with your cycle.

• Poor landing, deceleration an change of direction mechanics

• A runner’s build for a female is small boobs and a small waist so if you’re not gifted in those stakes then maybe try alternate forms of conditioning to ease impact and joint stress at various times of the season

Built for Endurance


Females, although not as strong in a relative sense compared to men, do have something up on us blokes and that’s endurance. Women have a far higher percentage of slow twitch muscle fibres which provides them with far greater relative endurance then men.


Female advantages leading to greater relative endurance includes:

• They have a higher 5 of fat meaning they can power their cells for longer from reserves without the need for replenishment so you can go harder for longer before blowing up

• Because their power output is lower compared to males it means they don’t hit glycolytic pathways (hit the wall) as easy or as often as men meaning you can burn more fat for fuel during activity and you can prolong the time it takes to hit your anaerobic threshold which interchange bench time

• Will recover far better from high intensity exercise then men again because extremely high power outputs cannot be reached in most cases so recover occurs quicker

• Their muscles can contain as much force as men but because their muscle mass is far lower, the actual output is lower

• Can perform more reps a given % of load then men so where a bloke might get 5 reps at 85% of max load, females might get 7 – 8

• The one disadvantage is that up to 80% of females can have clinical anemia which means you have less iron and thus oxygen in your blood which can affect mood and energy output.

Psychology


As a personal trainer I have trained females for over 10 years and I probably like to train dedicated females the best as their potential for improvement and growth is ridonkulous!


Over my years of personal training, this is what I have found and see if any of these ring a bell:

• They require more intensity with their training because as alluded to above they are already blessed with pretty good natural endurance.

• They love, love, love positive enforcement

• They require a lot of stability based work at the “core” to learn how to safely control the high forces that go there during footy training and games.

• Always underestimate their strength and where it can get to

• Might not do much free weight training because they don’t know how to

• Will tend to not increase training load until instructed to

• Train “too fast” so will need rest periods reinforced constantly

• More is not better, better is better

• Don’t sweat as much

• Will be more successful with multiple rep personal bests rather single rep (3 rep max over 1 rep max)

Body Composition


We all have different body shapes, which leads to different body fat storage patterns but females take this to a different level than men.


Body Composition is critical to elite performance but is too often overlooked at the local/amateur level but you’ll see the players with better body composition will generally be your fittest and most injury resilient players.


Here some points on getting that elite body for football, specific to women:

• Blood sugar imbalances can increase testosterone which can make it impossible to lose fat

• Adrenal and gut dysfunction will affect blood sugar levels

• The rate of fat or weight loss will be slower than men simply because you have less overall mass. It’s easier to lose 10kgs off 100kgs then 5 of 50.

• Tend to lose body fat from top to bottom

• Have less vascularisation in the lower body as less blood vessels + lower fat stores = harder to mobilize fatty acids

• Need more training volume and thus energy expenditure because of higher fat levels to lose fat

• Can’t restrict calories as much as men as you still need a minimum of calories so again you’ll need to look at energy expenditure for the most part.

• Respond better to low carb then men which is great for insulin and thus blood sugar levels down but they can also be more sensitive to low carb as your body is programmed to maintain body fat for reproduction.

These aren’t knocks but rather points to consider when developing a training program for the female footballer.

I’ll be getting far deeper into these topics and more over the weeks leading into the AFL Women’s season so if you’re a female footballer gunning for the AFL for season 2018 then you can sign up to the Aussie Rules Training Weekly Newsletter that goes out every Monday with plenty of goodies in it!

If you have any specific questions on training for footy then head over to the Facebook page, Like and I'll get back to you on the same day pretty much.

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Max Aerobic Speed - The Case Against (article)

Last week we did an introduction to Max Aerobic Speed and How to Use It.

The main points were;

- AFL, VFL and TAC all use it to help min prescribing running loads

- It allows you to pre-determine how far needs to be covered in a specific time frame

- 120% of Max Aerobic Speed is the single best interval to use

Today we'll take a look at an article written by the highly regarded rugby strength coach Keir Wenham-Flatt of funny enough, rugbystrengthcoach.com called 9 Reasons I Don't Like Max Aerobic Speed Part 1 and Part 2.

It had quite an influence on me - so much that I had to do this:

My biggest takeaways from the 2 piece article was:

- The goal of energy systems development should to be able the highest intensity efforts possible repeated with the greatest frequency possible which means step #1 - increase your speed then step #2 - repeat that speed throughout a game of footy. MAS trains you to increase the effort of your sub-maximal efforts which means you're training right in the dreaded "middle".

- To maintain power outputs during repeated efforts you need to train at, or just below your lactate threshold but MAS will push you way above that. The higher your lactate threshold then the greater your aerobic capacity and then the longer you can sustain higher power outputs.

- Once you go OVER your lactate threshold, you blow up, so the longer you can stay away from that point, the better. You can dip into a little to take up the slack of the aerobic and alactic energy systems but then you're on the way down as far as high outputs are concerned  because now fatigue has popped his head up and is now increasing with every high intensity effort you so recovery becomes compromised.

- Endurance athletes train with extremely high volumes but also at a low intensity with moderate volume dedicated to high intensity efforts but MAS trains low volumes for short durations with most of it being moderate to high intensity work. Getting back to the dreaded "middle" this means that you are training too slow to get faster from, but too fast to get aerobic benefits from as fatigue builds up.

- Even at 120 - 130% MAS you will need develop velocities to develop speed so you'll only improve MAS with MAS training making it somewhat inefficient.

- If you do perform training "in the middle" then you do it on your high days as it impairs recovery but then it must replace current high intensity work which is far from desirable.

Off the back of this article as well as the many readings of Joel Jamieson, they both had a huge influence in my programming of plenty of aerobic capacity work in my own training as well as my programs on top of sprint work performed at 100% intensity which is point number  from above in a nutshell.

Most local/amateur football clubs unfortunately train "in the middle" more then anything else which then results in slower sprinting speeds, longer recovery times between bouts of intensity, training and games as well as less skillful players who rarely get to practice skills in a totally non-fatigued state.

As I said in last week's blog I would still use some MAS during the in-season as it is time efficient, it would be sparingly and you can make the players work to their level as they have targets to hit.

Max Aerobic Speed and How to Use It

Let me introduce you to max aerobic speed (MAS) which I have referred to as some point on this blog before.

MAS is used by many elite teams, including AFL that uses a measurement of the meters per second (m/s) you cover in a distance run or time trial.

Say you covered 2kms in 8mins 36secs.

8:36mins = 516secs

2000m / 516 = 3.88m/s

So what you can with this figure is to set specific distance targets for time based on every players score.

World renown strength coach Dan Baker, an Aussie, has found through his research on a shitload of elite athletes that the amount of time spent above 100% of MAS appears to be a critical factor for improving aerobic power.

He sees that performing a number of short intervals at a faster pace is more effective of building aerobic power then traditional long slow distance training or attempting to train only 1 interval continuously at 100% MAS.

He also determined that specifically an intensity of 120% MAS is the single best speed for short intervals that are followed by a short respite (passive rest) intervals as this method increases training density and quality compared to 90, 100 and 140% MAS.

AFL players cover 5m/s during games and for every second an AFL player was behind in the MAS test, they reported that team tactical sessions were harder by .2 rate of perceived exertion (RPE). This doesn't sound much until you realise that this means that if you are 10secs behind then a session for someone "at the level' would class as a 6/10 RPE will feel like an 8 to you and you won't be able to handle the same volumes and intensities as they can without fatigue, decreased performance output or even injury.

So our player above with the MAS score of 3.88 would need to perform his MAS sets at 4.65m/s.

For a 15 second set that would mean he'd need to cover 70m.

Dan Baker is a gem and he has heaps of stuff to read on the internet and even though he's done more NRL then anything, he still has some AFL gems in his writings:

- Players will cover 14kms/game
- Use a 6min or 2km (5 - 7min) run for testing
- During games go hard x 5 - 7mins, go off ans come back on
- Can cover 129 - 147 meters per minute (m/m) on the ground compared to soccer which is 110
- Can hold game speeds of 145m/m x 5 - 7mins but then it drops 25m for each successive minute they stay out there

He also goes onto to say that if you can cover 1600m in 5mins then you don't really need MAS work.

I have implemented MAS into the In-Season Coaches Training Manual for it's simplicity and efficiency - both high requirements during the season when energy resources and training time are at a premium.

Next week - the case against MAS.

T Agility Drill

I like to use the T Agility test purely for it's simplicity.

It entails all the main change of directional moves such as linear deceleration/acceleration, a change of direction on both left and right sides as well as deceleration/acceleration on both sides.

It also only requires 4 cones.

Here it is in video form:

For blokes look at these times:

Poor - 11.5secs or more

Average - 10.5 to 11.5secs

Above Average - 9.5 - 10.5secs

Excellent - 9.5secs or less


For females look at these times:

Poor - 12.5secs or more

Average - 11.5 to 12.5secs

Above Average - 10.5 - 11.5secs

Excellent - 10.5secs or less

Aussie Rules Training Goal Kicking Competition Week 3

Can improve upon last week;s score of 0?

Week 3's set shot is the same position, 40m out and 10m in from the boundary, but on the opposite side of the ground so your kicking foot is facing the middle of the ground.

Last week i think I said I'd start having some practice shots before doing the video but I'm always jammed for time doing this so again I;m out of the car and into it within 2mins - and it shows!

Anyway here are my efforts:

OK so not bad, butt after a 0 last week I needed a 6 or 7.

My 3 points this weeks takes me to 6 out of 21 points so far - pretty shit for a 3 time club goal kicking champion!

Must be a pressure performer...

The Secret to Kicking Longer

I'm a left footer and like all lefties, I kick around the corner (but not as bad as some blokes), I can kick accurately and I can kick long. To buck the trend though I do have a right foot and use it often during games no problems.

Let's talk lever arms.

The longer the lever, the more speed is generated at the same speed as a short lever - think Buddy Franklin winding up from 70m. For dog lovers think of the ball chucker thingy.

The longer the lever the more speed occurs at the end of the lever and the more velocity you can produce.

You'll see in any player who is kicking from beyond their comfortable raneg of further, alter their mechanics to incorporate a hook of some sort which is the body finding a way to provide extra force.

Another thing is that lefties make it look so easy as well as the ever so slight range of motion of rotation that they go through as they hook from the left to the middle, can allow for better sequencing and activation.

This is actually how the body is designed to move, you generate movement from the middle then the extremities come through like a whip.

The pelvis has a high muscle to tendon ration (fore produces) while the extremities have more tendon and elastic structures (force amplifiers) and in a correctly aligned body, a small amount of movement at the waist can produce large amounts of force elsewhere in the body, and this case the foot.

When you rotate at the waist, it generates a stretch reflex in the upper body which aids the turning of the leg. Think back to that ball chucker, you swing it back and the flimsy end rocks back like a thrower but as you change the direction from backwards to forwards, the bottom end of the chucker is moving forwards while the top end is still moving backwards. The stretch reflex is when the top end "catches up' to the bottom and starts to fling forward, faster then it normally could.

If you've got a strong middle that can handle these forces and provide the "fling back" mechanism of the ball chucker, then you'll have consistently good distance on your kicks.

The more relaxed sequencing of the kick will also mean you'll be less injury prone.

On the other hand though, more rotation isnlt better here as there will be more slack then power and it will be like swiping with a wet lettuce leaf versus Jon Snow's sword.

Only use as much rotation as you can handle and coordinate at a high level.

Looking at Buddy...

As he "lays back" and swings his leg back, he opens the kicking up which is from the rotation of his middle

As he swings his leg back through to make contact with the footy, you can see that his hip have squared back up as his leg acts as a whip with his foot still behind the lever and generating more velocity.

Just after he has made contact with the footy you can now his hip continue rotating forwards through the follow through.

We've mostly talked about what the hips and lower extremities are doing but have look at his right shoulder too, as it starts backwards and rotates forwards, the opposite motion of the hip, creating even more velocity through torque.

I got the idea of this post from this article that goes into this concept in a bit more depth.

Aussie Rules Training Goal Kicking Competition Week 2

Last week I started the Aussie Rules Training Goal Kicking Competition.

It's 5 set shots from the same spot tat I determine each week.

You get 1 point for kicks 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 but if you make the 5th shot, you get a bonus 6th kick that is worth 2 points.

The highest score you can get in any round is 7 points.

For week 1 the set shot was 40m out straight in front of goal and I managed 3 points.

Let's see what happened this week:

Week 2's set shot is 40m out and 10m in from the boundary line kicking with your preferred foot on the boundary line side.

My result?

Dismal - 0 points!

I'm gonna start warming up before the videos from now it's getting embarrassing.

So at week 2 I'm sitting on a piss poor 3 points so video your 5 shots, pop them on the the Facebook page where you should be able to overtake my 2 weeks in 1 week!

2 DAY BLACK FRIDAY SALE - CHEAPEST PRICES EVER!

If you're not aware it's Thanksgiving in the US this weekend which is bigger than Xmas for them (I'm pretty sure).

As part of Thanksgiving they have a huge Black Friday Sale which is a 1 - 2 day sale at absolute bargain prices and at Aussie Rules Training we're jumping on board this year.

You might have seen that I have working like a dog to get the new site up and about that will run along with the main blog site. The new site will be where I run the business side of Aussie Rules Training from and will house all my various training manuals for you to kindly purchase.

There are 3 main product types:

#1 - Short Term Training Programs (specific programs for off, pre and in-season with manuals for both players and coaches).

They will set you back $75 per manual.

#2 - Long Term Training Programs (an off, pre and in-season training program for players to be performed along with your team training + a pre and in-season training program for coaches to use in their own training sessions, a done-for-you type of set up where you, the coach, simply need to plug in your own tactical and skill drills and concentrate on what you do best - coach.)

They will set you back $200 - 250 per manual

#3 - Specialisation Programs (1 Problem, 1 Solution is the mantra here so as a full forward if you need to improve your pace off the mark to cover 10m, then there will be a 4 - 6 week acceleration program there just for you.)

They will set you back $50 per manual.

For this particular Black Friday Sale, and for 2 days only, you can get one of two options:

Option 1 - 1 x Long Term Manual + 1 Specialisation Program for $175 ($100 Discount)

or

Option 2 - 1 x Short Term Manual + 1 Specialisation Program for $85 ($35 Discount)

All you need to do is:

- Head to www.paypal.com
- Send payment to lange_troy@hotmail.com
- Put in either Option 1 or Option 2
- Enter the price for your preferred option
- Let me know in the message section what manuals you'd like

Easy as that!

Then please give me 3 - 7 days to get them out to you as I'll get all the orders at once.

If you have any questions let me know.

Widen Your Aerobic Window for Running Greatness

My opening statement is probably an article in itself but you could probably focus on 2 simple things in regards to energy systems work and that would be enough for pretty much any sport you can imagine.

Get as fast as you possibly can and then train your body to recover between these bouts of sprints as fast as it can.

That's it.

As far as the recovery side of this equation goes, you want a resting heart rate somewhere in the high 40's to low 50's. If it is any higher then you'll be working too hard for menial tasks let alone intensive one's.

Think of the a fitness fanatic versus a couch potato doing a single flight of stairs and notice the difference in their demeanor at after the top step. The same amount of work done has different affects on those with different fitness levels.

If your resting heart rate is lower then the high 40's then you can actually be too parasympathetic (rest) and you need a heavy dose of speed and power work.

The anaerobic threshold is the point at which you move from aerobic to anaerobic metabolism which is where you go from cruising to fatigued. The brain doesn't like this as it's shifting you from your homeostasis point (your body's baseline) and what is bloody interesting here is that in order for YOU to stop pushing further away from your baseline, your brain will 'tell you" that you're fatigued to force you to slow down and /or rest to get back to aerobic metabolism.

Anaerobic Threshold (beats per minute) - Resting Heart Rate (beats per minute) = Aerobic Window

So if you're anaerobic threshold is 170bpm and your resting heart rate is 52 then your aerobic window in 82.

The wider the better.

With a weak aerobic system your heart rate struggles to decrease between runs and then each sprint drives you further into anaerobic metabolism (fatigue) and you get stuck there.

I've been guilty of this in the past before I really nailed down how energy systems work. I'd start my pre-season running by going straight to anaerobic type work so I'd have 1 - 2 real good efforts in me and then I'd be done for a while as it took forever for my heart rate to get back down.

If you're heart rate is too high then this should be the very first port of call as far as your aerobic/endurance training is concerned. This will widen your aerobic window on it's own.

After that then you can look at increasing the time it takes to hot your anaerobic threshold.

To test your anaerobic threshold do a 6min cardio test taking your heart rate every 60secs during the test, add those 6 heart rates up and get an average and that's your anaerobic threshold, or close to.

In the Aussie Rules Untouchable Training Program, there is a huge focus on decreasing your resting heart rate in the Pre-Xmas Pre-Season Training Phase and then we look at increasing your anaerobic threshold in the Post-Xmas Pre-Season Training Phase (coming soon!).

Aussie Rules Training Goal Kicking Competition!

Welcome to the Inaugural ART Goal Kicking Competition where you have the opportunity to test your goal kicking accuracy against other local/amateur footballers.

Here's how it works.

1 - Each week on the Facebook page I'll put up a video of my own entry which will show you the shot on the goal that we will be doing that week. The posts will be pinned to the top of the page so you won't need to scroll through the entire page to find it!

2 - You have 5 shots on goal on your preferred kicking foot.

3 - For kick 1 to 5 you receive 1 point for a goal and 0 for a miss.

4 - If you score a goal on your 5th kick then regardless of your score to that point you get a bonus 6th kick that can net you 2 points.

5 - The total score you can receive per round is 7.

6 - What you need to do is video your 5 kicks and post in the thread provided on the Facebook page along with your score. There will be a separate thread made for each week.

7 - If you can't video your 5 kicks then you can still log your score but it will count as 1 less then what you actually get - video is proof!

8 - I'll keep a running tally of the scores each week and pop them up on Facebook also.

I have 5 weeks of kicks lined up.

I already popped week 1 up with my score on Facebook so head over, post your 5 kicks and score and let the games begin!

Pre-Xmas Pre-Season for Players - What, When, How

Last week I posted a video aimed at assisting caches in planning their training for the pre-xmas block and now it's the players turn.

There are some similar focus points such as speed and aerobic capacity but we also look at what you should be doing in the gym if you've been throwing bars already or not.

Here'a a quick look at the what, when and how's.

Like the coaches program I'll throw a 25% discount for the next week or two for a price tag of $75.

After the video head to this link, clink the Players image and follow the prompts.

Timing Sprints with VStopwatch APP

Here's probably the easiest and a pretty accurate way to time your sprints, on your own using just your phone.

Find the Video Stopwatch APP by looking for this logo:

I made a quick video to guide you through the steps on how to do it:

I like to use split times for my sprints as well as shown in the video above so if you're doing a 10 meter sprint then a hat up at the 5 meter mark, if you're doing a 20 meter sprint then set up a hat at the 10 meter mark and so on.

Pre-Xmas Pre-Season Training for Footy Coaches - What, How and When

Today I've got a video that I've out together which is part of a series but with pre-season training on the horizon, this particular one is very timely.

It details what strength/fitness quality you need to train, how you need to train it and when you need to train it.

Being so early in the piece some qualities don't need to be trained yet and some things need to be trained differently then they would be trained later on.

All you need to do is to insert your skill and tactical drills into your training sessions and you're done.

Check out the video and special offer below:

After the video head to this link, click the Coaches image and follow the prompts to get $25 off the entire program all laid out for you - all 15 sessions covering aerobic capacity, speed, skills and strength.

Coaching made easy!

Footy Off - Season Checklist

My team's pre-season starts Next week (Nov 15th) and even though I won't be there until practice game time, I still tick off every box needed to prepare myself for footy season 2017.

From second the final sounds to the very second of team pre-season training, you're in the off-season training period.

I class this as the most important part of the season training wise because you have time, you have energy resources and no competition.

Training and games will eat into about 5hrs of activity time during the season plus hanging around time each week. On top of work and family that doesn't leave a lot of extra time to get quality training in.

Training and games especially take precedence over everything else during the season as you need to be cherry ripe for each and every Saturday and there's only so much energy stores to go around.

The fight for energy stores needs to be altered to reach Saturday at 100% but in the off-season you don't need that.

In fact training to and "above" 100% is what causes adaptation to training. You only get better by doing more then before or something better then before.

Now of course we all know that there are 100 things you need to train for footy but we're amateurs, we don't have the resources to do all of that so I like to keep it to the big rocks:

1. Rehabilitation
2. Strength / Armour
3. Aerobic Capacity
4. Speed

If you suffered from am injury that ended your season prematurely, or you played through one to finish off the year then it needs to be rehabilitated. Not rested but rehabilitated.

From 18 rounds of footy plus finals on often heavy grounds, specific dynamic actions can become overused and those muscles can break down in quality so that blistering speed you had in February can be a figment of your imagination come August.

Muscle tissue quality (we're talking contractability, range of motion etc) decreases over a long season so you might need to do a little regeneration work to get that back to an optimal level to train off.

This might be achieved through stretching, gentle bodyweight circuits, foam rolling, diaphragmatic breathing or whatever mode you like to use. My preference is the Be Activated Protocol.

For may years I did the age old sequence of gym from September to March then just went to footy training and some of you probably in that phase too. Resistance training is a must in my book for footy and not just for getting swole and strong. A strong body is a resilient body.

I have never had a soft tissue injury in my 50 years of football. Even coming off a 5 year break to start footy back up at 32 (I think), I have played all but 4 games and this is down to my strong body. 

If you're one of those blokes who breaks down each and every year at some point then you HAVE to do a full 6 months in the gym from September to March and them maintain some gym work during the season.

Without strengthening your body you're resting, but you're not recovering and same problems come back time and time again. The off-season is the time when you you should be hitting 5 - 6 times a week to build up strength, which is a slow process ans can't be done in 4 weeks from start to finish.

If you're slight of build like I was a youngster (55kgs at 18) then you'll need to build some armor to compete with the big boys. Building muscle and gaining weight requires excess energy to be used to do this process and trying to hold onto excess energy when footy training rolls around is crazy talk.

Old school coaches talk about "having a fitness base" which really makes no sense and they probably don't know what they actually mean by it.

What it actually means pretty much is to build aerobic capacity which is the ability of aerobic energy system which is responsible for fueling low intensity bouts of activity as well as recovering from intense bouts of activity.

Again this is a medium to long process to really nail this and requires some patience but you can't build optimal footy endurance without adequate aerobic capacity.

So to the players who roll up in January and go straight into the metabolic sprint work and to the coaches who think running with the balls or again just doing 400's is going to get you fit then think again. It can (if you avoid injury), but only to a certain and limiting extent.

Lastly, for the millionth time on this blog, speed is king. If I had 4 weeks and 2hrs a week to train a footy player I'd train speed the entire time.

Players play elite grades of footy because they're fast. Their skills might not be as good, their game sense might be a little bit off but by god that can all be overlooked when no-one can catch you. We've all played with these guys.

Like strength, because it is based on rewiring the central nervous system, this also takes time to develop and it might take 2 - 3 real good off-seasons to hit your full potential.

This makes it ultra critical that this is started as soon as possible but remember it needs to be performed in a totally non-fatigued state.

During pre-season you;ll always have residual fatigue from team training, during the season we're all about Saturdays but the off-season is wide open. You don't need to run to exhaustion at this time so you can perform each session totally fresh. S[peed should also be trained each and every week of the year regardless of when it is as it deteriorates quicker then anything else when it is not trained.

How many boxes have you clicked so far?

Research for Me, Aussie Rules Training Bundle for You! Read on to find out how...

I'm just trying to work out what sort of content everyone is after and what sort of products are in demand so I've put together a survey that shouldn't take you more then 2mins to fill out.

For your 2mins of time I'll email you out the Aussie Rules Training Bundle consisting of:

• The Top 15 Most Popular Aussie Rules Training Posts EVER ($30 Value)
• The "10 Things You Aren't Doing, But Should Be" Report ($30 Value)
• The 50 Tips to Becoming a Better Footballer" Report ($30 Value)
• The Aussie Rules Training Elite S&C Coach (AFL/VFL/TAC) Interviews ($75 Value)
• Day 1 of the Untouchable Training Program ($15 Value)
• The Speccy Challenge Workbook (potentially $50k if you do the program, take a hanger on video and win Almost Football Legends!) 
• Acing the AFL Combine Book ($75 Value)

That's over $250 (plus a potential $50K!) for 2mins of your time.

Clink the link to complete the survey:

http://bit.ly/2eByDIM

 

Skill Variability

Last week I tried some long jumps at the track I train at when I do sprints.

I've not performed a long jump since year 10 or 12 which at least 20 years ago and it showed with my stuttering approach run up to the pit!

Suffice to say my return to the pit won't win me any medals but it did make me think about skill variability.

Skill variability is the ability to perform a lot of different skills at a pretty good level.

Sprinting is as specific to footy as you can get so let's have a look at what relates to:

• Acceleration
• Max Velocity
• Change of Direction
• Acceleration + Change of Direction
• Max Velocity + Change of Direction
• Change of Direction into Acceleration
• Change of Direction into Max Velocity
• Change of Direction into Change of Direction

This list could go on forever.

Let's now look at what each of these requires as far as strength and fitness qualities are concerned:

Acceleration - high force capabilities, concentric strength, isometric/starting strength, relative strength, mechanics, hip extension strength, coordination

Max Velocity - high velocity capabilities, mechanics, hamstrings strength, muscle/tendon stiffness, coordination, mobility

Change of Direction - high force capabilities, eccentric strength, isometric strength, concentric strength, mechanics, stability, coordination

That's 13 different components you need to perform these movements optimally right there - and that's only the "big rocks".

Footy is as eclectic sport  as there is with it's extremely high active demands and 360 degree nature.

If you train by running slowly in a straight line for the greater part of your pre-season, then how can you expect to improve on the parts of the game that are the most important.

In the Plug-In Fitness Formula for Coaches I'm working on - there will be a chapter on kicking variability which is crucial for local/amateur players.

The ability to perform a variety of kicks is what WILL win you games or lose you games because it's the decision making of those kicks that matter, not the quantity.

It's no secret that the best teams do less work because of skill efficiency and this across the board from underage footy to AFL level.

I have pretty good kick variability myself but I do know that short kicking is not a major part of my repertoire.

Reasons for that might be that I played back for the middle part of my career often being in charge of kick out duties requiring long kicking. In the last 3 years I've played deep forward so any kick that isn't a shot on goal is short in nature to a teammate in a better position.

If I wasn't ale to perform these kicks then I'd often be having lower % shots at goal then we should be and a scoreline of 12.3 is far better then 6.15 (more points but less scoring shots).

When you head out to train in the next 4 or so weeks have a think of where you can slide some variability into your training to make you a more well rounded player.

The Plug In Fitness Formula for Coaches

Let's play a game of I have never.

I have never been a football coach.

I have never needed to also find the time and resources to evaluate my current playing list and identify what my team needs to move forward next season.

I have never needed to find even more time to find and visit potential recruits to add to my current playing list.

I have never been in charge of developing and implementing 9 months of training for 40 - 60 players at one time, with players starting at all different times and all with different strengths and weaknesses.

I have never had a "second job" that takes whatever spare time I have away from my family and friends.

What I have done is run this blog for 7 years.

What I have done is gotten certified in the same qualification that all AFL strength coaches possess (Level 1 S&C ASCA).

What I have done is searched high and low in the last 15 years I've been into all things fitness for the most effective training methods available.

More importantly I've played near on 400 games of local/amateur footy.

I know how we are trained and most importantly what is lacking in our training.

I have relationships with AFL, VFL and TAC coaches so I'm also aware of what they do at the elite level.

I've played under maybe 20 coaches - all with their own strengths and weaknesses in regards to knowledge and implementation.

Out of those 20 coaches I have never come across a coach with anything close to a base level of knowledge on strength and conditioning.

I'll be honest, you probably fall into that boat but that's fine.

How can someone, essentially working a second full time-ish job simply have time to do do all the above, and more?

How can they find the time to educate themselves at a high enough level on everything football?

They can't.

You can't.

But I can help.

And I want to help.

With all the information from above, I have developed a program perfectly suited to local/amateur teams of any grade.

This program is a god-send for coaches at any level football.

The done-for-you program consists of the precise training you can use for your players, in your training sessions, leaving you more time to put into recruiting, tactics and game play stuff.

Here's what you can expect.

All team training sessions all laid out for you from the very first pre-season training season to the very last home and away, or hopefully finals, training session.

All sessions for a Monday and a Wednesday (or whatever nights you have your team train) are all laid out for you.

What to train (speed, aerobic capacity etc), when to train it and how to train it.

The drills used are the most effective and efficient drills specific to the trait required to be developed so you can be assured that your players are getting what they need.

I'm not doing your job - I'm just making it easier.

You will continue to develop tactics and game strategies for your team, I just provide all the conditioning training.

We're talking alactic power, aerobic capacity, aerobic power, alactic capacity, lactic capacity, strength, body composition, player monitoring and more.

You probably don't even know what those terms are but that doesn't matter because I do - and I;ve developed a program that optimally develops all of these over the course of pre-season training.

The entire program is 3 phases:

Phase 1 - Pre-Season Pre-Xmas

Phase 2 - Pre-Season Post-Xmas

Phase 3 - In-Season

Each phase addresses different qualities as they need to be trained in order so you won't get even half the benefits of phase 2 without the foundation built in phase 1.

Teams wait until they reach higher grades to become more professional but my thinking is how far can you go with your current level of professionalism?

If it hasn't worked so far then how will it work all of sudden in 2017?

And if it does work then why wouldn't you already want things like this in place for continued success rather then a go up and come straight back down situation we see each year in relegation leagues?

Block 1 Round Up

I've outsourced my training this off-season to a bloke from the US DJ Williams who does work for the Chicago Blaze Rugby 7's team over there.

It can take me a 2 weeks to make up a training block for myself and with a bit on my plate at the moment I probably wouldn't have the time do it really.

So block 1 was geared towards general physical preparedness and looked like this:

Phase 1 x 2 Weeks - Isometric Focus
Phase 2 x 4 Weeks - Eccentric / Isometric Focus

Phase was a real ball breaker to be honest!

From a man who does most of his work in sets of about 7secs or less, this phase had isometric sets of 2 bloody minutes!!

I tell ya some of the weights I was using was EMBARRASSING.

The good part? 1 minute isometric sets for week 2.

Phase 2 used a bit of Triphasic Training with a 2 weeks of eccentric focus and then 2 weeks of isometric focus but with far shorter duration and thus far greater loading.

For deadlifts I had Sumo Deadlifts where I started with an 8sec eccentric with 45kgs then 1 x 14 @ 65kgs and finished with a 6sec isometric with 60 and 1 x 8 @ 90kgs.

For squats I did Belt Squats where I started with an 8sec eccentric with 45kgs and 1 x 8 @ 65kgs and finished with a 6sec isometric with 55kgs and 1 x 8 @ 110kgs.

In one of the mid season breaks last year I did a cycle of Belt Squats and topped out at 125kgs x 3 which equates to a max of 136. 8 x 110 equates to a max of 143 so we're all good there
 
Phase 2 also introduced a tempo running day to aid recovery and build sprinting mechanics.

Sprinting wise there's need a short acceleration day and a max velocity day with the focus being the MV day. My improvement for these has been excellent from starting at covering 35m in 5.2secs and topping out at 4.73secs with a 4.71sec wind assisted time as well.

Starting block 2 today which is a other 4 weeks and using max effort work in the gym (1 - 3rm type stuff), some weighted jumps and my favourite flying sprints for max velocity where I am to get my fly 10m down to less then 1sec. My personal best is 1.15secs which I'd like to think I can hit in week 1 at least then smash it in the next 3 weeks.

So that's where I'm at.

I've seen a few pre-season starting date notices making the rounds of social media so if you haven't done anything already you better!

Remember I have a sale on for my off-season 5 Week Untouchable Training Program that sits at $250 (down from $400) until Thursday 27th October.

Hit That.

Inside the Untouchable Training Program + 7 Day SALE!

Last week I gave you a look inside the Speccy Challenge I have running over here.

Today it's time to have a look at what the Untouchable Training Program has to offer.

The Untouchable Training Program consists of 3 phases and have been developed as separate programs.

Phase 1 is your off-season training program and with about 4 - 6 weeks until pre-season training starts (we start November 15th), then you better get your skates on1

The aim of phase 1 is to develop a great foundation of strength and aerobic capacity as to build speed and endurance from.

You'll be training 5 - 6 days per week so we're looking at fairly decent frequency here but that's what you want to to while your intensity is low to moderate and you're fitness is not near it's peak.

With a focus on building leg strength, you'll be training legs in the gym 3 - 4 times a week with low volume each session.

If you remember a post on Nat Fyfe I did last year you can see what a dramatic improvement you can get from simply doing this.

Strength is base of speed and endurance.

For speed, increased strength allows to apply more force into the ground, thus propelling your further each step you take.

For endurance, strength will allow you to run harder for longer and will build the injury resiliency you've never had before. The kind that will keep you on the park each and every week.

The extra leg strength will also allow to handle contact and tackles better, especially in contested situations.

At this link you'll be taken to a page I made up that provides you with day 1 of the program.

You have PDF downloads of your training calendar for the week as well of the training program for that day.

On the actual page you have each exercise that has a video and a description detailing exactly how to do it.

In the actual program you get the full 5 weeks of this.

- Phase 1 Training Calendar
- Phase 1 PDF Program Sent Out Weekly
- Phase 1 Video/Instructions Page Sent Out Weekly

You simply turn up and do it.

So here's the deal.

For this week only, til Thursday at 6pm Melbourne Time, this 5 week phase 1 will be available for $250 - til Thursday only!

You'll need to click this Paypal link to get it at this price and as I will be sending these purchases out manually, give me 12hrs max to email it to you.

Send the payment to lange_troy@hotmail and once I get notification of it through to my email I'll send it out.

This price will NEVER be seen again!

How Much Faster am I Already?

In a couple of days I'll have completed week 5 of my off-season training program.

I am working with a strength and conditioning specialist from the US named DJ Williams from Chicago.

He is the strength coach for the Chicago Blaze Rugby 7's team which is how I found him after doing a little research on rugby 7's training after our women's team tore the Olympics a new one!

Anyway we;re about to finish up the GPP block which for the uninitiated stands for general physical preparedness.

This is he first training block one jumps into to "get back into it" and to prepare the body for the rigors of harder training to come.

A few weeks ago I blogged about the f$%k all difference between being fast and slow and showed exactly how time matches up to distance and how even half a second can mean your meters off the pace.

Here's what I've managed to do so far this off-season.

My testing drill is a 35m sprint that we do 3 sets of each week.

The first day I did these my best time was 5.20secs.

That equates to 6.73 meters per second.

My best time last week was 4.71secs which is an improvement of .49 of a second.

That equates to 7.43 meters per second.

So if you put 5.20sec me up against 4.71sec me and we see how far we both can get in 5secs then it's 33.65m to 35m - pretty much a meter and a half in that short span of time.

4.71sec me is getting to a lot more balls before my opposition next year leaving more time to take possession which gives me more time to make a decision then more time to execute on that decision.

My ultimate goal is to hit 8 meters per second which equqtes to a 4.37sec 35m but if I can get a 4.5sec before the start of the season, then that will put me at 7.78 meters per second which then has me covering 38.9 meters in 5secs, a full 5m faster then week 1.

Speed is King!!

Inside the Speccy Challenge

As part of my new site I'm rolling with there is a FREE workout called the Speccy Challenge that you can access in exchange for your email address.

The Speccy Challenge is a workout I've personally done on several occasions to put 10cms on my vertical jump in a single 30 - 40min workout.

I actually Facebooked about it way back on the 30th of June where I registered an 11cm increase in about 20mins.

So here's how it works.

#1 - Sign up for the Speccy Challenge here. Even if you;re on my current list this is a new list that will receive exclusive Untouchable information and offers so you still need to sign up specifically for this.

#2 - You'll be taken to a thank you page that will provide you with a link to go straight to day 1 of the challenge.

#3 - There are 4 daily emails that detail each exercise in the workout which are probably not ones you're familiar with so you can head to the gym and try them out before...

#4 - Day 5 is when you'll receive the full workout where you'll head off and do the businees.

#5 - Once you achieved your 10cms + increase then you head on over the Facebook page and let us all know how you did.

#6 - On 5 you'll receive an early bird special offer for the core off-season program which again you only receive by going through the Speccy Challenge program - yes I want everyone to do the FREE part! The early bird special offer is just under 50% of the regular price and WILL NOT be around for long. The program is 5 weeks long and there's 6 - 7 weeks before pre-season training so now is the time to jump on this.

#7 - There are few follow up emails after that.

So that's the Speccy Challenge in a nutshell so if you want the bragging rights, you want the pats on the backs, you want the Footy Show Almost Footy Legends $50k winners check (easiest $50k in footy!) and you want to be talked about years from now then the Speccy Challenge is waiting for you.

 Head here to start now!

Aussie Rules "Untouchable" is Finally Here!

On June 29th of this year I took part in a small but exclusive 1 day workshop designed to provide me with the tools to build and implement an online training program like no other.

After 55 days it's here!

Introducing the Aussie Rules Training Untouchable Training Program.

I made training manuals before but never anything as big as this.

Here's how it works.

Step 1 - Take the Speccy Challenge.

The Speccy Challenge is a 5 day program that will put AT LEAST 10cms on your vertical leap in a single 40min or so training session. If taking hangers is your goal (and why wouldn't it be?) then this will give you the tools to do that.

Step 2 - Join the Aussie Rules Untouchable Facebook Page

This is a closed group exclusive to all Aussie Rules Untouchable members only. This is where we will all discuss training for footy, playing footy, watching footy, dreaming about footy! It will be a place to log your training results from the program and an outlet to talk about the program and anything else footy among like-minded footy players, all eager to take their footy to a level they never thought possible.

Step 3 - At the completion of the Speccy Challenge you'll be offered a sponsorship from Aussie Rules Training that will dramatically decrease the initial price of the Aussie Rules Untouchable Training Program. This sponsorship will be available for the first 50 people to take up the offer available on the sign up page, or for 2 weeks - whichever comes first.

Phase 1 is the off-season training program which is where all career years start from. It's not enough to start training in November as that doesn't set you apart from everyone else that does it.

Starting your training in October does!

I've written about various off-season training topics in the past month or so which shows how big I am on this.

I'm 2 weeks into my off-season already and I'm 38 with nothing left to prove!

http://aussierulestraining.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/season-2016-over-season-2017-begins.html

http://aussierulestraining.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/improve-most-you-can-for-season-2017.html

http://aussierulestraining.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/what-your-footy-coach-doesnt-know-but.html

http://aussierulestraining.blogspot.com.au/2016/09/the-fk-all-difference-between-fast-and.html

This will give you an insight into what you can expect from phase 1 on the Aussie Rules Untouchable Training Program.

Even though I've tested this 174 times I'm sure there;s till some stuff I've missed or hasn't sequenced properly so if you notice something out of order or whatever then please let me know s this will be "a work in progress' for the short term anyway.

Let me know any questions you have on this over the Aussie Rules Training Facebook page.